14 Oct, 2015

Why Squeaky Clean Is Far From Your Best Friend

By Soap Blogger

Here’s a question to ask yourself – have you spent much of your life under the assumption that when it comes to personal hygiene, ‘squeaky clean’ is best? If the answer is yes, you’re far from in the minority as for most people with good intentions when it comes to skincare and hygiene, there’s technically no such thing as being too clean. This is precisely why you’ll see pretty much every applicable shelf in every supermarket and cosmetic shop packed from end to end with the kinds of products that look as if they were created to strip paint from walls, rather than simply clean your skin.

What’s interesting however is that if you were to ask any sample group of dermatologists, they would tell you that when it comes to skincare and skin health in general, get things right with cleansing and everything else just falls into place naturally. Nevertheless, a surprising proportion of the population is heading down entirely the wrong path when it comes to their own cleansing and hygiene routines having bought into the way of thinking whereby squeaky clean is the only way to go.

Scrub It, Strip It

If you use skincare products which contain detergents or alcohol, chances are you will be familiar with that classic squeaky clean feeling after each use. The trouble is though, while these products will indeed work wonders when it comes to removing dirt, grime and even bacteria from your skin, this sadly isn’t all they take away. Quite to the contrary in fact as this ultra-clean feeling is characteristic of skin that has been stripped of its essential oils and natural nutrients the likes of which it needs absolutely in order to remain in good condition.

And what you think happens when these oils are removed? Exactly – your skin finds itself dangerously exposed to a world of harmful toxins and thus it works triple-time to pump out vast quantities of additional oil, which in turn leads to the creation of flaky, dry skin patches and the beginning of a cycle you will have quite a lot of difficulty in breaking.

A simple fact of the matter is that no matter what type of skin you have, this method of harsh and abrasive cleansing simply isn’t good for you. When and where you find yourself looking at products that contain detergents for example, make no mistake about it – these really are not entirely dissimilar to the detergents you’re probably using to wash your clothes. Of course they’re not identical but the principle is the same – they attract, dissolve and remove all impurities from the surface of the skin but sadly are not able to identify the stuff that should get left behind, and therefore take away all those essential oils as well.

You scrub it with harsh products, you strip it – it’s as simple as that.

So really the underlying message for anyone looking to do their skin a favour is to immediately and permanently get out of the habit of chasing squeaky clean skin at all times, as while your intentions may be good, you’re really only dealing yourself a bum hand.